Pierce Brosnan given new licence to kill in Last Man Out

It’s been quite a while since Pierce Brosnan (Goldeneye, The Ghost) coolly dispatched bad guys with a gun. His fun, but often unforgivably ridiculous, tenure as 007 has been overshadowed lately by the tremendous success of the current James Bond, Daniel Craig (Layer Cake, Casino Royale). Yesterday Craig’s third film as Bond, Skyfall, the 23rd in the long running franchise, overtook Christopher Nolan’s epic blockbuster The Dark Knight Rises to become the seventh biggest film of all time. How can Brosnan compete with such success? A fading action star, many now remember him for murdering ABBA pop classics instead of villains, with his woeful wailing in the film version of the hit musical Mamma Mia.

But there have been intriguing performances since Brosnan passed on his Walther PPK to Craig. In The Matador, Seraphim Falls and The Ghost he delivered solid, sometimes unexpected performances, in generally good films. Now, the former 007 has a chance to regain some cool credentials in a badass IRA revenge thriller. According to Empire, Brosnan is attached to star in Last Man Out, a film adapted from Stuart Neville’s well received novel The Twelve. Apparently the project is being touted for investment in Berlin and the aim is to assemble a cast and begin shooting by the end of the year. Despite Brosnan’s recent dim period, the man undoubtedly has star charisma and it seems unlikely that this film will fail to get the required backing.

Written by Ted Mulkerin and multi-talented comedian Craig Ferguson, who has scripted episodes of British comedy drama Doc Martin amongst other things, Last Man Out follows a former IRA assassin, who leaves prison after 20 years with a conscience. Unable to live with the guilt of his past crimes, the Celtic gunslinger decides to track down his former employers and bring them to justice, in the only way he knows how.

Sounds like the sort of film that will either be great or dreary. It seems like the whole thing will depend on Brosnan putting in a killer performance anyway. That awful pun is justified, because it simply reminds us of the worst lines of dialogue in the Brosnan Bond era. Hopefully, the script for Last Man Out will give the 59-year-old much better material to work with.

Do you think Last Man Out will be worth watching? Or just average action fare? Comment below with your thoughts…